High Altitude Baking

Being the ever generous soul that I am, I thought I would share with you a few things I have learned along the way. First, I have lived all over the world, being a military spouse and all, but for the last 6 years I have lived in different variations of high altitude regions. I have learned the hard way many times that no matter what boxes and recipes say, you have to find your own combination of ingredients that work well for your specific altitude. I am currently in Colorado Springs which is over 5,000 ft and therefore I have had many cake disasters while learning the ropes. My saving grace after moving here was finding a conversion chart that gives you guidelines based on altitude for altering ANY recipe. You have to play around a bit to see what works for you but here is a link that will help you out with that. Remember not all recipes need to be altered. Make it once the standard way and if it falls try to alter ingredients the next time. I usually start with the baking powder and baking soda.  http://www.thecookinginn.com/haltitude.html

Another thing I learned when I first started is that if you are going to used a boxed cake mix, the high altitude recipe directions on there are useless. I was given an insight by a fabulous baker friend and mentor. She told me that for almost any box mix, if you use this formula, you will have perfect moist cake every time.

1. Never use a mix with pudding in it. It is dense and will make your cake fall.
2. Never over beat the eggs because it adds air to the mix and....will make your cake fall.
DO:
1. use 1 box of mix
2. use 3 eggs (or appropriate egg whites listed on white cake boxes)
3. use just over 1 cup of water. I mean BARELY just over so kind of hovering above the 1 cup line.
4. use 2/3 cup of oil
5. add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour. You can gauge when you have enough if your batter is not watery but also not a cookie dough consistency.
6. I have also found adding buttermilk in replacement of the water can create a moister and more dense cake instead of a crumbly one.
7. Always bake at 10 to 15 degrees higher than suggested. This allows for the faster cooking time will keep the recipe from rising too much

These directions can be doubled, tripled, etc. Just get the cake into the oven as soon as you can after you have made the batter and you should have no more altitude baking issues. Happy Baking!!!